Willowbend Tales - Chapter Two

CHAPTER TWO – DRUNK AND HOT GIRLS DO NOT ALWAYS HOOK UP

Dream Journal Entry # 2

Mozart and I were walking in a park I remember from my years living in Edmonton. I remember seeing this woman I know named Sally jog by in a red track suit.
Mozart said to me “Perhaps Rocco is right. The time to take chances is here and now. If you keep living in the past you can never go ahead into the future.”
I said back to Mozart as Sally jogged by us in slow motion “But everything about it scares me. I’ve been hurt too many times by people who say they care and love me.”
Mozart replied back to me “Yes but through pain strength grows. If you do not put yourself out again to feel anything, you may end up as the person your father claimed you are: bitter and never going to change.”
I try to ask Mozart what exactly I was supposed to do but Sally turned around and began singing Kylie Minogue’s “Red Blooded Woman”. Focused on the lyrics about never getting to heaven if you’re scared of getting high and the chorus of the song; “Let me keep freaking around, I wanna get down/I'm a red blooded woman, what's the point in hanging round/Don't wanna keep turning it down/When this girl wants to rock with you…”

Saturday was finally here.
Darren stood in front of the bathroom mirror and looked at his own reflection. Wearing a pair of blue flannel pajama bottoms, Darren took an electric shaver and began to shave. After he was done, Darren rubbed his hands across his now-shaven face making sure his face was nicely shaven for that night. He then turned on the hot water in the bathtub, allowing it to run awhile so the water would be the right temperature for the shower he was about to take. This was the first time in about three years that Darren attempted to do something remotely sociable like going out to a night club or bar to meet women. The last time he had done so, the night ended in confusion and hurt feelings for Darren. It truly was not one of his finest moments in his life. But now here he was, washing his hair and body; getting ready for a night of proposed debauchery with Rocco and Phil.

Moments later, when Darren stepped out of the shower and grabbed a towel to dry off, a banging on the bathroom door caused a pause in this routine. Darren wrapped a towel around his body and opened the door to reveal Phil – wearing a bright red dress shirt, black pants and a stylish grey fedora. “Come on, I’ve seen my grandma get ready for a night on the town quicker than you!” Phil jokingly said to Darren.
“Geez, sorry. You know, for someone who at first objected to this, you sure came around rather quickly!” Darren replied back. Darren then noticed Phil had his digital video camera bag under his arm. “Oh god, please tell me you’re not planning on filming all of this?” he asked with a bit of concern.
“Why not, it’ll be for either the main project…” Phil said and was interrupted by the buzzing of the apartment’s intercom. Phil paused in his thought and pressed the intercom button. Rocco’s voice was heard on the other end.
“You ladies ready yet or what?” Rocco asked. Phil pressed the button to unlock the main lobby door and picked up from his thought before being interrupted. “… Or I’ll have some excellent blackmail material.. Either way, this could be quite the night,” Phil said as he opened the suite’s door slightly ajar – and in almost near perfect timing, Emily walked into their apartment looking slightly annoyed.
“Ugh! Straight women drive me bonkers!” Emily proclaimed as she walked into the living room and promptly sat on a couch. Mozart the rabbit, who was let loose from his enclosed area as he occasionally was allowed to wander the apartment from time to time, hopped over to Emily, who had a pouty and disappointed look upon her face. Sensing this could work into his film project, Phil quickly took out his camera and began to film and interview Emily.
“So, issues with the room-mate, eh?” Phil asked.
“I guess now ex-roommate,” Emily replied back, looking into the camera. “Three days before she’s supposed to come up with her half of the rent, she decides to not only go on a trip with her boyfriend she then decides today of all days to announce she’s moving in with him on Monday. I hope when she comes back Sunday she’ll at least leave me the rent money.” Emily let out a sigh as Mozart stood up and placed his two front paws on the side of her lower leg. Emily petted the rabbit as a method of stress relief as Phil carried on with the interviewing-type scenario: “Isn’t there a spell in your little books to make money?” Phil asked.
“Well, first off – Wicca is more about being in tune with the elements, at least the path I’m studying,” Emily answered. “Second off, that would be counterfeiting and thus illegal.”
With the door still open, Rocco walked in. Sporting denim slacks, a tight white shirt to show off his slowly developing six-pack abdominal region, and black sports coat. Phil then turned his attention away from filming Emily and onto Rocco, who looked rather displeased with this fact.
“Please tell me you’re not bringing that with you!” Rocco protested.
“Hey, worst case scenario – I find a couple university girls to do a family friendly version of ‘Two Girls, One Cup’, complete with sh…”
“Eww!” Emily interrupted with disgust.
“… Sherbert? Ice cream’s low fat, healthier alternative?” Phil said, saving face from the disturbing image previously inferred.
Around this time, Darren emerged from his bedroom, wearing a basic black tee-shirt and khaki pants.
“Seriously, bro? You’re going with that?” Rocco asked Darren.
“What’s wrong with it?” Darren asked back.
“It’s too plain, doesn’t really make you stand out from the rest of the pack.” Rocco said. Then he glanced at Phil’s ensemble “And you are just trying too hard.”
“Well, sadly, this is the only thing I have in my closet that I’m not too ashamed to wear in a public setting.” Darren replied back. “And besides that I still like this look.”
“Me too,” Emily said in Darren’s defense. “Sometimes basic can work.”
“Guess if anyone else knows how to pick up women, it’d be you.” Phil said to Emily.
“Huh, never thought of that,” Rocco said, knowing. “Speaking of which – what is it this week, Em?” he asked Emily as she got up from the couch and began to walk out of the apartment. She playfully patted Rocco’s shoulder and said “Not you, big guy.”
“You’ll check on Mozart later right?” Darren asked Emily before she completely left.
“I shall. Besides if the rest of the night goes as well as the day did, think the two of us will just end up on the couch watching a sappy movie or something.” Emily replied.
“Thanks again,” Darren said as he gave a friendly peck on her cheek. “And if for some reason we don’t make it back tonight…”
“… I’ll alert the media,” Emily said with a smile on her face as the three men left the suite.

Perhaps this was all a mistake after all.
Darren sheepishly made his way through the packed crowd in the night club to the bathroom. It was going as he had envisioned so far: Rocco met up with some of his comrade-in-arms in the pursuit of cage-fighting supremacy and blew off Darren and Phil. As Darren stood in front of a urinal, relieving himself of excess urine, he thought about the last time he had ever been to a club like this in Edmonton. It was shortly after Gloria had broken up with him. As an attempt to try to dull the pain of the breakup, Darren tried to get acquainted with the myriad of drunk and hot girls with little success. So far the amount of success was similar. As Darren went to wash his hands, he took a look in the mirror. Perhaps the more things changed in his life, the more some things remain the same for Darren.

Darren made his way back from the bathroom, and found Phil, who was quietly observing the scene.
“Think you were right,” Darren said to Phil. “This was a mistake.”
“Yes, very much so.” Phil said as he spotted a couple of ladies of Asian descent standing up by the bar. “Listen? If I can’t convince those two to a little project I have been dying to do, wanna help me embarrass Rocco in front of the rest of his alpha male primates?”
“I guess.” Darren said unsurely. “Don’t tell me you’re ditching…” he paused as he watched Phil smoothly make his way over to the bar, “… me?” Darren just slumped back against the wall and sighed. “Perfect.”, he muttered.
Around this time, a petite blonde-haired woman noticed Darren all by himself. While the woman may not in real life pay attention to him, the copious amounts of alcohol consumed by her made Darren seem more appealing. She made her way over to Darren, as another woman with reddish-brown hair watched on.
“Hey cutie,” the blonde woman said with her speech slightly slurred. She wrapped her hands and arms around Darren’s neck as he looked on completely perplexed.
“Uh, hi?” Darren said as she moved in closer into him. “Do I know you?”
“Not yet,” she said as she planted a sloppy kiss on Darren’s lips. Darren kissed back but with uncertainty of what was going on. While this was something Darren had wanted for quite some time, one could see a plea for help in his eyes. Meanwhile, the auburn-haired woman who was watching made her way over to the two of them and lightly tapped on the blonde one’s shoulder.
“Get off my man!” the auburn-haired woman said to the blonde one. The blonde one, with judgment totally impaired, tried to take a swing but ended up doing a face plant onto the hardwood floor of the club. Looking confused, Darren moved to the side as the auburn-haired woman stood beside him and watched as a couple of bouncers help the blonde one up.
“Um, thanks?” Darren said, still confused as to what was going on.
“Don’t mention it,” the auburn-haired woman said. “Just sensed you didn’t really want to make out with a drunken gutter slut. By the way, name’s Julia – Julia Sanders.”, she said as she extended her hand in a introductory manner.
“Darren Watson,” Darren said as he shook Julia’s hand in return.
“So this really isn’t your scene is it?” Julia asked rather matter-of-factly.
“Pretty obvious, huh?” Darren asked back.
“Figured one of three things is possible: either your friends ditched you, you don’t do this often, or this whole aloof thing you’re pulling is part of an elaborate act as you creepily stalk an ex.”
“Mostly the first one, a little bit of the second one. No comment on the third one.” Darren dryly replied.
“Hmmm, quick-witted? I like that” Julia said. “So where’s your friends at?”
“Well,” Darren looked around and first noticed Rocco at a table with three other men, pounding back shot glasses and surrounded by a bevy of women. “One is over there with the Future Date Rapists of Canada…” and then pointed out Phil, who was still chatting with the two Asians, “… and the other one is over there – the runner up of the Joey Jerimeiah Look-A-Like Contest of 2008. And how about you? Where are your friends at, or do you just rescue random strangers from drunken hook-ups for the fun of it?” he asked back to Julia.
“Well, I think a couple of them are with your muscle-bound buddy, which means it’s gonna be a noisy night back home.” Julia said with resignation in her tone. “So since we’ve been basically left to fend for ourselves, wanna get out of here and go somewhere quiet where a more meaningful conversation can be carried out?”
“Thought you’d never ask.” Darren said with relief. As the two of them made their way out, Darren took out his cellphone and began to send a text message to Phil. “Going for a walk with someone I met. Txt me later” was the message he sent.

Darren had forgotten how busy and crazy the Whyte Avenue area of Edmonton was. Even back in his time living there, the neighborhood had not become quite the collection of eclectic stores and bars. Even the few times a month Darren would come into the city, he would always make his way down there and notice how much the scene had changed over the last ten years he knew of it. Now here on a clear and nice Saturday night, he was walking down the street with a complete stranger he only met a few moments ago. Not one of the strangest things to happen to Darren in Edmonton, but that would be best told another time.
“So, what brings you out to our fair city?” Julia asked as the two of them walked slowly, side by side.
“Was my friend’s idea.” Darren answered. “He figured I needed to get out more and try meet someone.”
“Well maybe I should have you and blondie alone then, huh?” Julia said jokingly.
“Nah, was glad you came in at the right time.” Darren said back.
“Your name sounds familiar. What do you for a living?”
“Right now, I’m a combination of a freelance bum and writer.”
“Wait a minute? You’re that Darren Watson? The guy with that musings column?” Julia asked somewhat starstruck.
“The one in the same.” Darren modestly replied back.
“Get out! Your column is the second thing I read in the local freebee magazine right after that gay guy giving sex advice to everyone.” Julia said.
“Um, thanks.” Darren said.
“Although now it makes sense why you were so uncomfortable back there. Remember that one article you wrote about how the old pickup bar scene was dead and internet dating was the wave of the future?”
“Yeah, that was before I had a couple bad experiences with some of those sites. Between nearly getting scammed out of money from some Filipinos and countless frustrating initail contacts, I just gave up.” Darren replied and then asked “Now I feel at a disadvantage since you seem to know so much about me and here I know nothing about you. So tell me something about yourself, Miss Sanders.”
Julia then went onto say, “Well, I’m a recently unemployed high school teacher who is in the middle of a job search and has an interview in some small town call Veger…something… ?”
“Vegreville?” Darren asked, trying to correct her.
“Yeah, that’s the one.” Julia said.
“It’s not as small as it used to be.” Darren said. “We now have a Tim Horton’s.”
“Oh yeah, read you were from there.” Julia said.
“And you thought I was a stalker?” Darren asked playfully.
“Well, I’m just a bit of a fangirl. Sue me.” Julia teasefully said.
“I just never met someone who was into my work as much as you seem to be.” Darren said as the two of them stopped by a street vendor who was selling pizza by the slice to the late night revellers.
“Well, I’m an English teacher and just love anything and everything that is in the written world.” Julia said as she proceded to order a soda from the Middle Eastern pizza vendor. “Didja want something? My treat,” she offered to Darren, who requested the same soda that Julia had in her hand. The two of them kept on walking until Darren felt the vibrating of his cellphone. “Excuse me for a moment,” he said to Julia as he took his phone out from his pant pocket and took the call. It was Phil on the other end of the phone.
“Hey, just got your text. Where are you now?” Phil asked.
“About two blocks away. Why?” Darren asked.
“Damn Rocco and his goons decided to get into a fight with some other goons. He got tossed out. He’s quite drunk and about to pass out in my car. We’re gonna be heading home. Stay where you are and we’ll pick ya up!” Phil said as the conversation got cut off. Darren sighed.
“What’s wrong?” Julia asked.
“Well, the good news is you’ll probably have a quiet sleep as your friends won’t be felt up by a bunch of roid monkeys. The bad news is I’m heading home soon.” Darren said, somewhat deflated.
“Well…” Julia said as she grabbed Darren’s cellphone. She promptly went into his contacts menu and added her name and phone number. She then took out her cellphone and did the same with Darren’s number. “… maybe when I’m Vegreville I’ll give you a call and you can give me a tour or something. Or maybe you can help me find a place to live if I’m lucky enough to get the job.”
Darren remembered overhearing about Emily’s roommate problem and slyly said to Julia, “I may know just the place.”
“Great, my interview is on Monday at two,” Julia said as a white Ford Escort pulled up beside her and Darren. Phil was in the driver’s seat with Rocco laying down in the backseat. “Looks like your ride is here,” she said as she leaned into Darren and gave a small peck on his lips. “Call me when you get the chance, okay?”
“Sure,” Darren said as he waved bye to her and entered the car. As Darren buckled up, Phil asked him “So, who was that young lass?”
“I have a feeling I’ll find out more about her on Monday,” Darren said as he looked at his cellphone and then glanced at Julia as she walked away with a slight cute wiggle from her backside.